{"id":14789,"date":"2025-08-25T13:04:34","date_gmt":"2025-08-25T01:04:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/?p=14789"},"modified":"2025-08-25T13:04:34","modified_gmt":"2025-08-25T01:04:34","slug":"devoted-father-killed-in-sand-dune-collapse-at-muriwai-beach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/?p=14789","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;Devoted father&#8217; killed in sand dune collapse at Muriwai Beach"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Family and friends are paying tribute to a young father who died after a sand dune collapsed on him at Muriwai Beach, on Saturday.<\/p>\n<p>Kane Watson, 28, was flown to Auckland City Hospital in a critical condition early that evening, after being buried in the dune head first.<\/p>\n<p>A friend who has set up a Givealittle page on behalf of the family, Kristalle Tayler, posted that despite the incredible efforts of rescue teams and doctors he passed away from his injuries.<\/p>\n<p>She said Kane was a &#8220;much-loved son, brother, partner and, above all, a devoted father&#8221; and the sudden accident has left his family shattered.<\/p>\n<p>His youngest child is due to be born early next year, she said.<\/p>\n<p>The\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.rnz.co.nz\/news\/national\/570951\/sand-dune-collapse-something-that-weighs-as-much-as-an-elephant-collapsing-on-top-of-you\">Auckland Rescue Helicopter Trust said<\/a>\u00a0the man was digging a hole in a sand dune when it collapsed on him at Muriwai beach on Saturday evening.<\/p>\n<p>Police said on Monday they would be carrying out enquiries on behalf of the coroner.<\/p>\n<div class=\"photo-captioned photo-captioned-full photo-cntr eight_col \"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/media.rnztools.nz\/rnz\/image\/upload\/s--EvyBgjAj--\/ar_16:10,c_fill,f_auto,g_auto,q_auto,w_1050\/v1756000243\/4K262VH_Sand_dune_collapse_Muriwai_jfif?_a=BACCd2AD\" alt=\"A sand dune collapsed on a man when he was digging a hole in it at Muriwai.\" width=\"1050\" height=\"787\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"photo-captioned__information\"><span class=\"caption\">Rescuers at the scene on Saturday.\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"credit\">Photo:\u00a0Supplied\/Auckland Rescue Helicopter Trust<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>In 2023, a boy was killed, after he and a friend were trapped in a collapsed dune on Aotea Great Barrier Island.<\/p>\n<p>The boys, aged 12 and 14, were flown to Starship Hospital in critical condition, after\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.rnz.co.nz\/news\/national\/491849\/aotea-great-barrier-island-sand-dune-collapse-a-terrible-freak-accident-principal-says\">the dune collapsed<\/a>, as they dug tunnels during a family picnic at Medlands Beach. Levi Sonchai Golaboski, 12, was\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.rnz.co.nz\/news\/national\/492098\/boy-critically-injured-during-sand-dune-collapse-on-aotea-great-barrier-island-dies-in-hospital\">taken off life support<\/a>\u00a0days later.<\/p>\n<p>University of Auckland senior lecturer in civil engineering hydraulics Dr Colin Whittaker wanted to see\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.rnz.co.nz\/news\/national\/570951\/sand-dune-collapse-something-that-weighs-as-much-as-an-elephant-collapsing-on-top-of-you\">more public education<\/a>\u00a0about the dangers of sand dunes.<\/p>\n<p>Source: RNZ<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Family and friends are paying tribute to a young father who died after a sand dune collapsed on him at Muriwai Beach, on Saturday. Kane Watson, 28, was flown to Auckland City Hospital in a critical condition early that evening, after being buried in the dune head first. A friend who has set up a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":14790,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[174],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14789","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nz-news"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14789","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14789"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14789\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14791,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14789\/revisions\/14791"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/14790"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14789"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14789"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14789"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}